Rise of the Phoenix novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: Not Cold
I did not shout this time.
I got out of bed, found the flannel, and pulled it on while he stood at the window not looking at me.
"Free of it," I said.
"The file's gone. The mine's gone. The thing that made me is ash on the floor of a room."
He kept folding the quilt.
"You don't need an anchor anymore, Emmi."
"Is that what this is?"
"You can have anyone now. A man who doesn't need your fire to stay alive. A man who isn't on a page."
He set the quilt down at last and turned.
"I don't want to be the debt you keep paying."
"You think you're a debt."
"I think you spent fourteen months in a cell, and then a month saving a dying man."
"You never got to choose anything in between."
"I chose you in a place with no door."
"Then choose again. Somewhere with one."
His voice was gentle, and he picked up the duffel.
I stood there in his flannel with my bare feet on the cold floor, and for one moment I had no idea what to say.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Rise of the Phoenix are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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